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My Declaration of Independence

At the exact moment I publish this, a super full moon is conjoining my natal lunar north node in Gemini. I’m using that power to launch my declaration of independence. Donald Trump and I share that same node. Our karmic responsibility is to communicate higher knowledge to the multitudes. Bill Clinton and George Bush also share that node, but blew their chances. Donald Trump may have already fulfilled his karmic destiny by exposing the dark underbelly of democracy. Donald Trump’s hubris will be his legacy.

I’ve had an epiphany. If Donald Trump can become president, I can shift the paradigm of ‘palmistry as a gypsy fortune- telling scam’ to ‘palmistry as a potent path to knowing oneself and other’. By ignoring palmistry’s history and making up my own rules, I’ll drag hand reading, kicking and screaming if necessary, out of the dark ages and into the light of the sun. My mission is to give everyone a helping hand, their own. Once you realize the true value of palmistry, you’ll be looking at your hands with reverence.

I’ve been an astrologer, palmist, and tarot card reader for forty years. As an astrologer, having an exact date, time, and place of birth empowers me to recognize character types, observe behavioral patterns, and understand life cycles, habits, and timing. As a palmist, I observe body language and examine the morphology and topography of hands to interpret a person’s actual potentials. Our hands reveal what we’ve done, are doing, and are likely do with those potentials. Tarot cards unveil unconscious and subconscious minds and answer questions ~ like about other people’s stuff.

Astrology had been quietly knocking at our door for thousands of years. In 1968, we opened wide and asked “What’s your sun sign?” Linda Goodman wrote and Bantam Books published the simple and entertaining ‘Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs’. Suddenly, astrology became fun. The popular astrology movement was catalyzed. Horoscopes magically appeared in newspapers and magazines everywhere. Astrological organizations, schools, books, and clubs sprouted, thrived, and continue to flourish. Over one hundred million copies of Linda’s books were sold with no Amazon.com or e-social networking.

In my attempt to understand how Linda Goodman transformed astrology, I reached out to her literary agent, Arthur Klebanoff. After reading his autobiography, ‘The Agent’, I was convinced he would be a good catalyst for launching palmistry. I hoped to persuade him that I could become the ‘Linda Goodman of palmistry’ with his help. Too bad for me, because Arthur had retired from agenting and was wary of esoteric authors. Linda had been a royal pain in the butt as a client. I assured him the only relationship between Linda and me was a metaphor between charts and hands. His answer was still ‘No’. I needed to find another way to gain credibility with publishers. If you’ve read my recent personal publicity series, you know how hard I’ve tried.

Here’s my paradox ~ hands are more potent than astrology for seeing basic behavior. There’s no need for accurate birth info, computers, software, or hindsight. While natal astrology charts remain static, hands change as thinking and circumstances change. We get to observe our changes in the mirrors of our hands over time. I use astrology and palmistry together. Viewing hands through the lens of the twelve signs and houses of astrology instantly reveals our basic characters, values, thinking, feelings, will power, health, relationships, creativity, philosophy, purpose, hopes, fears, and spirituality.

Palmistry has not had a champion since Cheiro (hand) in the early 1900’s. Cheiro (Count Louis Hamon) was a self-appointed, self-promoting seer, showman, gossip, and indisputably the most fascinating palmist of all time. He was a bit like Donald Trump in that he made up his own rules as he went along. He’d be a superstar these days with reality TV. You can read more about him in my blog post, ‘Your Palmistry Education’.

It’s time for palmistry to be reborn, but palmistry needs a spokesperson. I’ll be happy to support anyone who is qualified and wants the job. If I’m forced to become a face for palmistry, I’ll rise to the task, but I’m not Cheiro (except for having amazing clients and stories). I have reservations about going public. I cherish my anonymity. I must always remain discreet about my clients’ private lives and secrets. I’ll be seventy next June.

I hope to inspire expert palmists and sincere seekers to take responsibility for what they know and need to know. Knowledge and wisdom are keys to unlocking the magic of hands, but you don’t need to know about hands, or millions of details, or be an expert at anything, to see what you need to see. You must learn how to look and ask the right questions. Hands can be seen and heard by whoever chooses to look and listen.

If you’re a professional palmist and have a legitimate service, product, or school, you should be part of this. Once the public is turned on to palmistry, masses of people will be searching for sources for all things hands. I will promote you when you’re ready, but I’ll require a lot of help from you. First you need to have your act together.

Why aren’t we asking, “May I see your hands?” My intention is to catalyze a popular palmistry movement as soon as possible. Everyone is seeking spiritual insight and better understanding of oneself and other. There’s no competition for being you. Open your mind, stretch your awareness, and cultivate your ideas ~ be creative. Let me know what you’re planning. Ask for my advice. What I know isn’t proprietary. I have no trade secrets. I will freely share any ideas and ideals that make good sense for the future of palmistry.

I’ve spoken about hands at local venues to mostly uniformed audiences. I’ve shared my knowledge, experience, and creative ideas at colleges, universities, museums, new-age bookstores, community centers, churches, and cafes’. I’ve consulted with psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers about fast forwarding diagnosis, to salesmen about improving sales quotas, and human resource professionals about seeing and knowing whether a person is right for a job. Sounds like a lot, but it’s not. Unless you’re waving what you’ve done or are doing in someone’s face while it’s still hot, it’s quickly forgotten.

I’ve shared my personal publicity experiences with newspapers, magazines, books, radio, TV, volunteering, and public speaking. The workshop flier below was from one of my favorite events. Working with small communities is very satisfying. By participating in local events, you can give people a taste of what you do and let them know you plan to share what you know with the community. With digital camera in hand I ask,

“May I photograph your hands?”

“What will you do with the photos?”

“I’ll blow them up huge on a screen and talk about you with you in front of everyone.”

I’d be terrified if someone asked me. I have too many secrets. I’m always surprised how many people are ‘up for it’. I assure them I would never say anything hurtful or harmful. Being constructive, helpful, and leaving people feeling hopeful is the name of the game. Workshop volunteers sign a model release. I use their photos in limited ways. I choose twenty people for my poster while instantly creating a captive audience expecting an interesting experience. I place fliers online and in local village stores a couple of weeks ahead of time. This event worked especially well because people were turned on, the workshop was inexpensive, and the proceeds were donated to the café cinema series.

If you go into palmistry for money, you’re in the wrong profession. You can have a happy and healthy life as a palmist without being rich. I work as much as I choose, but will never make big bucks. Corporate speaking is profitable, but it’s a hard sell and the least satisfying work in the end. Your real wealth is in recognizing hands as powerful tools for healing mind, body, and spirit. In the process, you meet a diversity of amazing individuals, cultivate quality private clients, and attract fascinating special event work.

Over the next several weeks, I’ll post my ideas for popularizing palmistry on my blog. Feel free to question, comment, suggest, advise, imagine, or whatever you choose. If you have a better idea or know how to make an idea better, share your thoughts and insights. Let go of palmistry’s past. Take a leap of faith. Figure out what works for you. All of humanity must know and understand self and others better for a better future. Precious treasure wants and waits to be discovered at the ends of our arms.

“The lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of understanding” Hermes

About markseltman

Over the past thirty-five years, I've read tens of thousands of hands of people of every age, gender, race, color, size, shape, career, and socio-economic diversity. I've examined the hands of celebrities, billionaires, corporate executives, and the people who work for them. I've been in charge of the psychics at special events like the massive Bloomberg Company picnic on Randall’s Island and have worked at the Mayor’s country home and at Gracie Mansion. I've been a hand reader at PR events and family gatherings for the King of PR, Howard Rubenstein. I was the hand reader at Harvey Weinstein’s spectacular wedding. I've also read the hands of Martha Stewart, Katie Couric, Star Jones, Kevin Kline, Kyra Sedgwick, Barbara Corcoran, Dave Brubeck, and Maurice Sendak, along with numerous other celebrities and their families. I've also examined hundreds of criminally insane people’s hands at a forensic psychiatric hospital in New York City over a two-year period.
I've appeared on ABC The View, CBS Martha Stewart Living, CBS Evening News, FOX Good Day NY, Lifetime TV, Queens, NPR and WNYC. I've been featured in the NY Times, NY Newsday, The Daily News, The Village Voice, New York Magazine, INSTYLE Magazine, Family Circle, Modern Bride, Manhattan User’s Guide, and other periodicals. Because of my credentials in design and technology as well as my extensive experience with public appearances on television, radio, and in the print media, I'm uniquely qualified to promote palmistry.
I offer five-minute reflections at special events, counsel countless couples, raise funds for diverse causes such as AIDS, Cancer, Cystic Fibrosis, Schizophrenia, Arts Education, and the Environment. I taught Metaphysics 101 at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in NYC for five years and have also spoken, offered workshops, and taught classes at the New York Open Center, Learning Annex, Source of Life Center, Hunter College, Pace University, Fashion Institute of Technology, Marymount Manhattan College, Theosophical Society, East West Bookstore, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, and The National Design Museum in NYC. I also have a private practice with over 1,000 clients.

7 thoughts on “My Declaration of Independence”

Mark i’m a palmist myself but feel like i Always need to Learn more, read more, see other perspectives and with the help of various Point of views it’s a never ending learning process and I love it for that.
In Portugal (where I am) I myself am trying to promote me as palmist that can help people to see they inner value and use it, trying to make people forget about the gypsy fortune telling stereotype!
I am glad to join you in this quest and make palmistry a good help for everyone !

Mr. Seltman I love this! And you are right, if Donald Trump can become president hand analysis/palmistry can become a household way to self discovery. I am relatively new at this work, but I am dedicated to it. Your declaration has inspired me to be more direct, in my approach about what I do, and getting hand analysis/palmistry out there in the mainstream. So I would greatly appreciate your sharing of knowledge and ideas. Thank you!

Great post, Mark. I’ve read and enjoyed your book and read others as well. I do believe that the unexamined life is wasted and that reading hands and Tarot are good tools. I also find that there is a lot of responsibility in using them and that intimidates me a bit, I would feel better if I could mentor with a good hand reader, but I live in Korea. Palmistry is actually big here (as is Tarot) but my Korean and most readers’ English abilities are limited.

Good luck with the campaign to shed the ‘cross my palm with silver’ stereotype. I look forward to (and enjoy) reading your comments every week.